This invention relates to a software learning engine offered online via a network of multimedia nodes. More particularly, this invention relates to an administrator and instructor course management application for managing and monitoring student and instructor activity in an online educational course.
Traditional campus-based universities are often limited in the number of learners they can reach by limitations in their physical resources. Classroom and campus constraints generally dictate a relatively small consumer base embodied as learners.
In addition, fixed schedules, a passive learning approach and a relatively lengthy academic school year have resulted in the limited education models known today based on utilizing a physical campus with one teacher and many learners. One limitation of the prevailing education model is that it is only available to people, such as younger students during the first stages of their lives, who can dedicate the majority of their time to exclusively studying and attending classes.
Known methods of offering distance learning have not been able to harness the teaching techniques and material of first tier higher education institutions. Existing methods generally require that a learner become self taught with periodic assessments by the distance learning institution.
There is a need for an educational forum that provides interactive lessons asynchronously such that a learner can participate in a lesson using an on-demand schedule and also reap the benefits of an interactive learning environment. Such an educational forum should provide for access to large numbers of students that may be geographically dispersed while offering all students the guidance, feedback and access to resources generally available to traditional campus-based students. There is also a need for instructor tools in such an interactive environment to permit instructors to effectively monitor and manage students. Additionally, there is a need for administrator tools in this interactive environment to facilitate monitoring of instructors and the online educational forum as a whole.